Turn with me if you will to the
29th chapter of the gospel of Isaiah Isaiah chapter 29 My subject tonight is learning
from the reprobate Learning from the reprobate You'll find my
text in these 24 verses of Isaiah 29 Without question, we live in
the midst of a reprobate generation, a generation of men and women
under the judgment of God in reprobation. If you think I state
that without reason, just read the first chapter of the book
of Romans and explain this generation in any other terms. Ours is a generation, obviously,
from top to bottom. Not just this country, this entire
generation of religious people around the world, a generation
under the judgment of God. The marks of judgment are evident. This is a society, a generation
of people, duped with spiritual blindness. Everybody has some
concept of spiritual things they think. And if you listen to them
speak, just open their mouths about anything spiritual, you
understand they're utterly blind. Because God has sent them a strong
delusion that they should believe a lie. And when men and women
determine not to believe God, they are likely to believe almost
anything. When God sends delusion, men
and women can't see. When God sends darkness, people
can't see. This is a generation of spiritual
ignorance. That spiritual ignorance demonstrates
itself in utter decadence morally. Generation under the judgment
of God is a generation of people known by the fact that God has
given them over not only to spiritual ignorance, but to every form
of ungodliness, adultery, fornication, sodomy. Those things were common
in a reprobate age, Paul tells us in Romans 1. A self-serving
generation of people. People who live to serve themselves
are people who live in utter chaos and rebellion. Rebellion
seen in everything they do. Self-centeredness seen in every
action they take. These things, we're told by the
Spirit of God in the first chapter of Romans, are the result of
what God calls will worship. Putting man in the place of God.
The religion is free will, works religion. Religion that debases
the character of God, makes God like man, and exalts the character
of man, making man like God. The more thoroughly convinced
men are that salvation depends on them and is determined by
them, the more vile they become in their behavior. If we could
outlaw abortion and shut down the peddlers of pornography and
smut, if we could close every brothel, banish all drugs from
our culture, eradicate sodomites from the world, it would do nothing
to bring this generation one step closer to God. Our problem
is deeper. Our problem is the heart of fallen
man. Those other things are just the
branches. Those other things are just the
result. It won't do any good just to
cut off the branches. We've got to get to the root.
And the fact is, nothing can deliver us from the judgment
of God. Nothing can deliver this world
from the judgment of God Nothing can deliver this generation from
the judgment of God, but the grace of God The free grace of
God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh May God be pleased To pour
out his grace and make his son known in this generation Let
us give ourselves relentlessly to this cause, to make known
in this age of darkness the light of God's free grace in our crucified
Redeemer. Now I know that most people have
never heard the word reprobation, let alone heard a preacher deal
with it from the pulpit. But reprobation is clearly taught
in Holy Scripture. It is a doctrine taught in scripture,
and it is a doctrine by which we ought to be caused to give
praise and thanksgiving to God for his free grace. For God hath
not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by his Son,
the Lord Jesus. Election is God's choice of some
to eternal salvation in Christ. Reprobation is just the opposite.
Reprobation is God passing by others, not choosing others. Predestination is God's sovereign,
eternal purpose of grace toward and for his elect. Reprobation
is God leaving people to themselves. Salvation is God Almighty performing
his wondrous work in operation of grace for in and upon chosen
sinners. Reprobation is God abandoning
men and women to themselves. Election is God loving Jacob
and all the sons and daughters of Jacob. Reprobation is God
hating Esau and all Esau's children. Eternal life is God refusing
to leave you alone. Reprobation is God leaving you
alone. Salvation is God not leaving
you to your will, your choice, and your way. Thank God he would
not leave me to my will, my choice, and my way. Reprobation is God
leaving you to your will, your choice, and your way. Salvation is God interfering
with you and your plans and your life. overturning your plans
and your determination. Reprobation is God not interfering. Grace is God preparing vessels
of mercy for heaven by giving us righteousness and eternal
life, working faith in us by the power of his spirit. Reprobation
is God's judgment upon vessels of wrath. who fit themselves
to destruction by their willful unbelief and rebellion. In Isaiah 29, we have Isaiah's
prophecy against a people called Ariel. Ariel, we're told, is
Jerusalem, the city of David, the city where David dwelt. Ariel,
Jerusalem, was the place of divine worship. The temple of God was
in Jerusalem. The altar of God was in Jerusalem.
The sacrifices of God were offered in Jerusalem. There was the Ark
of the Covenant. There was the Mercy Sea. There
was the Holy of Holies. There was the place where God
met with men on the Mercy Sea. There God's priest led his people
in worship. Priest of God offered sacrifices
according to the law, and they did so at God's appointed times. Ariel, Jerusalem, was the mountain
of the Lord's house, the place of God's blessings. But now Isaiah has a message
for Ariel. A message he is sent of God to
deliver to Ariel. The word Ariel, representing
Jerusalem, means Lion of God. And Isaiah has a message for
Ariel, Jerusalem. It is a message not of mercy,
but of wrath. Woe to Ariel! Woe to Ariel, the city where
David dwelt. The prophet seems himself to
have been astonished by the message of woe he had to deliver. It
was a message of wrath, not upon barbarians, but upon his own
brethren. Not to pagans, but to the people
of Israel. Not to the Egyptians, but to
the sons of Jacob. Not to the Chaldeans, but to
the church of God. Woe to Ariel. Woe to Ariel, the city where
David dwelt. In this chapter, verses one through
six, God's prophet warned Jerusalem of God's wrath against the city. He told them the Assyrians were
about to come upon them and would destroy them. This army of godless
pagans was but an instrument in the hands of God, used by
him to accomplish his purpose in judging Jerusalem. A remarkable
thing. God raised up barbaric, idol-worshipping,
ignorant Assyrians. Assyrians who despised him and
blasphemed him and used them as a sword in his hand to destroy
the people who professed to worship and follow him. If that doesn't
sound familiar to you, you're not aware of what's going on
around us today. Verse one, woe to Ariel. To Ariel, the city
where David dwelt, had ye year to year. Let them kill sacrifices. Go ahead with your worship. Yet
I will distress Ariel. God said, this is my work. and
there shall be a heaviness and sorrow, and it shall be unto
me as a Rael, and I will camp against thee round about." When
you see those Assyrians in camp besieging the city, don't forget
that's me camped around you. And I will lay siege against
thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee. And
thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground,
and thy speech shall be low out of the dust. And thy voice shall
be as of one that hath the familiar spirit, out of the ground, and
thy speech shall whisper out of the dust. Moreover, the multitude
of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude
of thy terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away, just
chaff blown in the wind. Yea, it shall be at an instant,
suddenly. Thou shalt be visited of the
Lord of hosts with thunder. and with earthquake, and with
great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire. The Lord God says to Jerusalem,
I will distress you. I will camp against you. I will
raise up forts against you. You will be visited of the Lord
of hosts. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith. Understand this, children of
God. Our God sovereignly rules everything. I want you especially to understand
this. Our God sovereignly, absolutely
rules. Even wicked men on this earth
who despise him and despise his cause and despise his son, absolutely
rules them. The king's heart is in the hands
of the Lord. He turneth it whithersoever he
will, exactly according to his purpose. Prophet Amos said, shall there
be evil in the city and the Lord hath not done it? No, sir. No, sir. The evil we see all
around us, the evil we experience, whether it be in the nation,
in the state, in the city, or in our home. The evil around
us in every nation of the world, the evil cannot be brought to
pass, but by the purpose and will and hand of God. He says, behold, I make peace
and I create evil. I make light and I create darkness. This is God's doing. One time
David was going down the road and a man came out named Shimei
and he cussed David. He was just jumping up and down,
mocking David, laughing at David, cussing David for all he could
cuss him. And David's friends, the Bashai
said, why don't you let me go over and lift his head off his
shoulders? And David said, leave him alone.
Leave them alone. Because the Lord said to Shammai,
go cuss David. Perhaps the Lord will requite
me good this day for his cursing. God teach us so to bow to you
in all things. Whatever comes to pass in this
world, Most distinctly, my brother, my sister. Whatever comes to
pass in our lives comes to pass by the hand of God. Look at verses
seven and eight. Though God's judgment would be
severe, the Lord Jehovah would not allow the Assyrians to totally
destroy Jerusalem. because of his elect who were
yet in Jerusalem. And the multitude of all the
nations that fight against Arael, even all that fight against her
and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a
night vision. It shall soon be as when a hungry
man dreameth, and behold, he eateth, but he awaketh and his
soul is empty. or as when a thirsty man dreameth,
and behold, he drinketh, but he awaketh, and behold, he is
faint. His soul hath appetite. He's
just as hungry and thirsty as before he ate and drank. So shall
the multitude of the nations be that fight against Mount Zion. In wrath, God always remembers
mercy. He will never destroy the righteous
with the wicked. Abraham knew that. And when he
prayed for Sodom and Gomorrah, his purpose was to preserve lot.
And his argument with God was, will thou destroy the righteous
with the wicked, knowing that God won't do so. because there
was an elect remnant among the people of Jerusalem, God spared
the city from utter destruction. The raging monster of Assyria
would go no further than God had ordained. He was turned away
hungry and turned away thirsty because his purpose was to destroy
God's people. And all he could destroy were
those whom he thought to be God's people who were not God's people
at all. So shall the multitude of all
nations be that fight against Zion. God wisely and graciously uses
wicked, ungodly, reprobate men, men who perform evil things to
purge his church and to prove his church, to separate the precious
from the vile, but he will allow none to harm his church. The Lord God declares, he that
toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. I am often asked about various
things that go on. I don't talk much about things
that are painful when I don't have to, nothing good to come
of it. But people like to talk about strife and division and
heresy, and those things are always painful. They're always
painful to observe, especially to observe them among people
you thought to be brethren and friends in the family of God. The Apostle Paul teaches us by
inspiration, heresy must come that they which are approved
may be made manifest. They who are perfect may be made
manifest. By all these things that come,
God proves who his people are. It is the purpose of God to save
his elect, a remnant according to the election of grace. And
for the elect's sake, he preserves the wicked and uses them, uses
them to preserve his elect. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any
should perish, but that all, all who are loved of God, chosen
of God, and redeemed by Christ shall come to the knowledge of
truth by the revelation of Christ in them in the new birth. Look
at verses nine through 16. It was because they would not
hear his word, because they would not repent of their sins, because
they would not return to him, that the Lord God sent spiritual
blindness upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Understand this,
understand this. Reprobation is by the decree
of God, just as election is. Romans 9 states that as plainly
and emphatically as it could be stated. But reprobation is
always, in its execution, an act of divine justice and of
righteous retribution, so that men are without excuse. Look
at verse 9. Stay yourselves and wonder. Cry
ye out and cry. They are drunken, but not with
wine. They stagger, but not with strong
drink. They're drunk with the wine of
Babylon's fornication. For the Lord hath poured out
upon you the spirit of deep sleep. Who did it? The Lord did it.
And hath closed your eyes. the prophets and your rulers,
the seers hath he covered. And the vision of all is become
unto you as words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver
to one that has learned, saying, read this, you've been to seminary,
you've got you a THD or a PhD or a THM, everybody respects
you as a doctor of theology, I pray thee, read this. And he
saith, I cannot, for it is sealed. And the book is delivered to
him that has not learned, saying, read this. I've never been to
school, I've never been to seminary, I just preach as the Spirit leads
me. Read this, I pray thee. And he saith, I have not learned.
Wherefore the Lord said, for as much as this people draw near
me with their mouth and with their lips do honor me. but have
removed their heart far from me. And the fear toward me is
taught by the precept of men. That's the charge I laid against
the Pharisees and the Sadducees in his day. He said, you teach
for doctrine, the commandments of men. Your doctrine, your fear
toward me is something you learned, not for me, but by the precept
of men. You've thrown away my word. You've ignored my prophets. You've
refused my declaration, and rather have taken for those things the
precept of men. Therefore, therefore, this is
the cause of the judgment. Behold, I will proceed to do
a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder. For the wisdom of their wise
men shall perish, and the misunderstanding of their prudent men shall be
hid. Driving down the road, you, like
I, maybe I a little more often than you, pass by these huge
buildings that are called church buildings, goat barns, places
where goats are gathered, and they're huge. and you know what's
being preached inside them. Out in Little Rock, Arkansas,
I believe it's the most magnificent, splendorous, beautiful church
facility I have ever seen in my life. I mean, it's magnificent. I have absolutely no idea what
it might have cost to build that place. No, I can't imagine. I can't imagine. It's a Pentecostal
church. I ain't talking about one of
these modern assembly of God things where they try to hide
it. I'm talking Pentecostal. One of those fall down, jump,
pew, holler, throw the Bibles and throw books at each other,
Pentecostal churches. Doctors and lawyers and school
teachers and politicians, rich folks go and listen to men babble
nonsense. There's absolutely no way under
the shining sun anybody with good sense could even nod at
it, except they were given to believe a strong delusion under
the judgment of God. For the wisdom of their wise
men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be
hid. Verse 15, woe unto them that
seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works
are in the dark, and they say, who seeth us and who knoweth? Surely your turning of things
upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay. For shall
the work say of him that made it, he made me not? Or shall the thing frame say
of him that framed it, he had no understanding? That's precisely
the language of this world in this day. And I'm not talking
about just the political world. I'm not talking about just the
educational philosophical world. I'm talking about the religious
world. God has nothing to do with anything. He's just a spectator
and he does what we tell him to. The darkness God gave to
Israel, to Jerusalem, increased as the years rolled by. So that
when God's own son came into the world and preached in the
streets of Jerusalem, when he performed miracles before their
eyes, they could not see. I told you a week or two ago,
the prophecies of the Old Testament were so precisely given that
there's no mistaking the fact that Jesus of Nazareth is the
Christ of God. And when he came and walked on
this earth, Johnson, his disciples said, are you the Christ or do
we look for another? And the Messiah sent this word
back to John. John's purpose was he wanted
those disciples to hear it for themselves. You go tell John
the blind see, and the deaf hear, and the lame walk, and the dead
are raised up. Nobody but the Messiah spoken
of a Joel 2 that one promised in the 70th week of Daniel and
Daniel chapter 9 No one else could do this But when he walked
on this earth, there were a few only a few in Israel looking
for the consolation of Israel Simeon and Anna stayed right
in the temple. They said, this is the time Messiah's
coming. And they wouldn't leave until they saw him. That's how
precise the prophecy was. But nobody paid any attention. Nobody paid any attention because
God sent blindness and darkness so that they could not see. Can
you imagine seeing a man You touch a coffin and say to a dead
man, get up and go home. And folks walk away and say,
he's a great prophet. Can you imagine that? This man,
he has great power, but he's not God, he's not the Messiah.
Let's kill him. Let's kill him. Can you imagine
a man like Rex read to us about a little bit ago, Judas Iscariot,
walking with the Savior for three and a half years, observing all
his miracles, hearing all his doctrine, hearing all his sermons,
seeing him heal men and raise the dead and perform wonders,
demonstrating who he was. And walk up to him and betray
him with a kiss, say, let's kill him. Let's kill him. Why? Because he hath blinded their
eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should not see with
their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be convinced,
and I should heal them. The blindness of the reprobate
is the work of God against men and women who refuse to walk
in the light God gives them. They read their Bibles like this. Speak to me now, Lord, by your
word. And they listen to God's servants
like this. Let me hear now, Lord, let me
hear. They will not see. Therefore they cannot see They
will not hear therefore they cannot hear Verses 17 through 24 Yet in the midst of this reprobate
age The Lord God promises that he will preserve, save, keep,
and instruct his covenant people, his own elect. Is it not yet
a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful
field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest. Lebanon, representing the pagans,
the Gentiles, the heathen, where there was just a dark forest
of ungodliness, shall be made to be a fruitful field. God's
gonna make the fields widen to harvest. And the fruitful field,
Jerusalem, Israel, shall become esteemed as a dark forest. And in that day shall the deaf
hear the words of the book. and the eyes of the blind shall
see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The meek also shall
increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall
rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the terrible one is brought
to naught, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch
for iniquity are cut off. that make a man an offender for
a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and
turn aside the just for a thing of naught. Verse 22, therefore,
thus saith the Lord who redeemed Abraham concerning the house
of Jacob, Jacob. Jacob, my redeemed, my chosen,
my covenant one, my elect. Jacob shall not now be ashamed. Whosoever believeth shall not
be ashamed. Whosoever is built on this rock
shall not be put to shame. He shall not be confounded. Neither
shall his face wax pale. Now I looked at that a good while
last week. What's he talking about? What
you talking about? Doesn't matter how brave a man
pretends he is, I'll tell you a dead sure way to know he's
afraid. When suddenly the blood falls
from his face and he looks like he's about to pass out, he's
scared to death. Not my people, not my people. Believing on the Son of God,
trusting God on his throne, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither
shall his face wax pale. He'll not be afraid. But when
he seeth his children, the work of my hands in the midst of him,
His children, the sons of Jacob, those loved of God, redeemed
by the blood of Christ, they shall sanctify by name and sanctify
the Holy One of Jacob. How on this earth, how on this
earth can this son of Jacob, an ignorant worm called Jacob, a man who couldn't hear, and
couldn't see and couldn't understand. A man with nothing to offer God,
how on this earth can a man like me, a man or woman like you,
sanctify God? Sanctify the Holy One of Israel. Hallow God's name. Honor the
God of glory. Set Him apart as God alone. Only one way. by faith in his
Son. They also that erred in spirit,
my children, just like the reprobate, altogether like them, nothing
about them to distinguish them from the reprobate, they erred
in spirit, but they shall come to understanding. And they that
murmured, Those who heard the word murmured and yacked and
wouldn't bow and murmured and yacked and wouldn't bow and murmured
and yacked and wouldn't bow. They that murmured shall learn
doctrine. Lebanon, the Gentile world, had
been a field of darkness, a forest of darkness. Jerusalem, the Jewish
world, the fruitful field, but now things are reversed. The
Lord God our Savior said to Jerusalem, your house is left to you desolate.
And now I send my gospel to gather my elect out of the four corners
of the earth, north, south, east, and west. And the fields are
white unto harvest. Pray ye the Lord of the harvest
that he may send forth laborers into his field. Pray that God
will now send laborers into his field, preaching the gospel of
his grace. For the harvest is great, but
the laborers are few. God still has an elect remnant
in this world. I know that because he hasn't
yet destroyed it. It is our business to proclaim
the gospel of his grace in this reprobate age of darkness, praying
that God will be pleased to have mercy upon sinners, even as he's had mercy on us.
that God would shed the light of his grace in their hearts,
even as they shine the light of his grace in our hearts, give
him the light of the knowledge of Jesus Christ crucified, salvation
by Christ's blood and righteousness alone, so thoroughly, graciously,
effectually made known that you just can't do anything but trust
his sword. That's how God saves sinners
in this reprobate age. And those who perish and go to
hell, those who choose not to hear God, those who will
not bow to his word, who will not bow to his son, God shuts
them up in darkness. There are some in this world,
there are in every age, before whom God has shut the
door and they can't enter in. They're described as foolish
virgins who had no oil and they refused to buy any. They're described
as folks trying to enter in the straight gate Once the gates
been shut the doors been shut and everything sealed up and
they can't enter in the Lord God called Noah and his family
into the ark and he shut the door and There hadn't been a
drop of rain yet judgment had yet not fallen and folks on the
outside had no sense of danger and presumed Noah and his family
were fools to build that ark and walk in it. Noah and his
family were fools to trust free grace in a crucified Redeemer
alone. And they were reprobate. And
in hell today, I'll tell you what they experienced. Exactly
what they experienced. And if you go to hell, I'll tell
you exactly what you'll experience forever. You will eat the fruit
of your own ways. And you'll be filled with your
own devices forever in the wrath of God. Oh, thanks be unto God
for his unspeakable gift. For he has not ordained us damnation, but to
life eternal in his Son. We're bound to give thanks all
the way to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because
God, from the beginning, has chosen you to salvation. through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto we call you by our
gospel. Amen.